Help Ramadan Shabazz get back on his feet!

*Photo credit: JOHN TLUMACKI/GLOBE STAFF

Ramadan is home and he needs some help getting back on his feet after more than 51 years in prison!

Ramadan spent more than half a century and two-thirds of his life in prison committed to bettering himself and the world around him - trying, as best he could, to atone for causing the deaths of two men during an armed robbery he committed as a twenty-one-year-old Vietnam Veteran suffering from PTSD.

Now that he is finally outside prison walls, he's working hard to get his feet back under him with the goal of continuing the mentorship and counseling he provided to so many young folks while he was incarcerated. But, rejoining society and the workforce after more than 51 years is hard work, and Ramadan could really use all the help he can get. He's staying with the incredible Parker family for now but would like to be able to eventually get his own apartment, and we all know what the rental market in the Boston area is like.

Ramadan and I (his lawyer) would be so grateful if you're able to help him work towards getting his own place and covering basic necessities!

To read more about Ramadan's story, check out:

Second Chance Justice, Massachusetts Communities Action Network, and the Brockton Interfaith Community's informative webpage : https://www.mcan.us/bic-scj-ramadan-shabazz

This incredible video that Lily Teitelbaum and Karen Greisdorf of Massachusetts Communities Action Network put together:

And Boston Globe articles:

Once condemned Ramadan Shabazz enjoys

Board grants parole for Ramadan Shabazz

Governor’s Council votes to commute life sentence

Parole Board recommends clemency

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for your incredible generosity! Ramadan and I are so very grateful. I'm writing to let you all know that Ramadan is doing so very well! He's been enjoying delicious home-cooked food (including some truly stellar barbecues), walks in the Great Meadows and along Crane's Beach, and volunteering. A longer update follows if you have the time, but long story short, GoFundMe requires that recipients of the funds have a state ID. Because Ramadan still doesn’t have one (see below), the funds will be released to Dr. Richard Parker, who, with Christina Parker and the entire Parker family, has championed Ramadan’s case for years, and with whom Ramadan has made his home since his release. Dr. Parker has created a designated linked bank account for Ramadan to which Ramadan has access, and the funds will be transferred to that account. This has been quite a saga, but we’re optimistic that we’re on the right track, and hopefully Ramadan will have his Massachusetts state ID in hand in the not-so-distant future!

***One unbelievably frustrating obstacle we’ve encountered is obtaining a certified copy of Ramadan’s birth certificate so that he can get a state ID. It may come as news to some of you, but prisoners are released without any lawful form of identification! As is obvious to everyone, operating in society without any form of government ID is extremely difficult. Indeed, one of Ramadan’s parole conditions is that he obtain employment, which he can’t do without an ID. We started this process in January, before Ramadan was even released and we’ve spent countless hours on this issue. Even getting Ramadan’s Congressional Representative involved wasn’t enough! The complication is that Ramadan was not born in Massachusetts, and the Office of Vital Records in the state of his birth won’t release a certified copy of his birth certificate because his current legal name doesn’t match the birth certificate (notwithstanding documentation showing that he legally changed his name). In order for them to release the birth certificate, he has to apply to amend the birth certificate to match his legal name, and in order to do that, they want another order from a court in MA directing the Office of Vital Records to amend the birth certificate. We are working on this now, but in the meantime, this process really highlights the need for legislation that would provide released prisoners with a temporary form of identification that they can then use to obtain a state ID, or legislation requiring the Department of Correction to obtain a state ID for prisoners before their release date and a means to expedite the process.